After a year layoff, the Mars Hill College men’s cross country team returned to the top of the conference by winning the 2009 SAC championship for the 14th time.
Before winning the conference championship this year, the men’s cross country team won the conference 13 times straight. The team had won conference every year from 1997 to 2007.
“Winning conference is never a goal of the team. We look past conference and focus on region,” said Coach Mike Owens.
Owens has been coaching men’s and women’s cross country as well as track and field at Mars Hill for 19 years. Collectively, Owens has won 33 conference championships and eight regional championships.
This season, the team beat 20 Division-1 schools including Western University, UNC-Chapel Hill, Charleston Southern and Gardner-Webb. The team also finished 3rd in the region and competed at nationals.
“The great thing about this team is that everyone finishes within 30 seconds of each other. Kit Powell leads the pack. That’s a way to describe it, ‘pack running,’” said Owens with a slight grin on his face.
But winning comes at a price. The team has to prepare for the season during the summer in order to compete at a high level.
“Over the summer, the guys will run up to 80 miles a week. They are all hard working and very dedicated to this team,” he said.
The men’s cross country team has a lot of momentum going into the 2010 season. The team will lose senior Ben Crenshaw and return a very young, talented squad.
Owens said he’s looking to add one or two more guys to compete for another conference championship next year.
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